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The Hag of Northcoast
Long ago, a beautiful gold haired woman named Asgeia lived in the settlement of Frostkeep. She was the fairest of all the town. Every young man desired her but every single man her father proposed was deemed unworthy and rejected. It was her father's fear that her stubbornness would cause her to be alone forever, and leave him with a lonely daughter and without dowry. One night, Frostkeep was woken in alarm. Pirates had silently rowed to the shoreline under the cover of a moonless night and ran about town, plundering, pillaging and burning. There was total chaos and fighting everywhere. It was this night that the fearsome captain Damon broke into Asgeia's house and encountered her in her bed. Although a demon of a man, he was immediately stricken by her beauty. He snatched her from her bed and ordered a retreat, taking her back to his ship like booty. Everything went quiet and Frostkeep was left to lick her wounds. Damon, the demon, a vicious pirate without mercy or remorse... but he treated Asgeia well, as a gentleman would. And she, enchanted by his charms, did not struggle. Of all the men on the Shores, Damon was the one she fell in love with. Damon had his ship lay anchor near the shore not far south of Frostkeep. There, they feasted in the snow and hid their booty in a cave. After a night and a day of feating, and after Damon had had his way with a drunken Asgeia, the pirates were ready to sail off again. Knowing that having a woman on board when sailing out for pirating means bad luck, he told Asgeia to stay behind on the shore and go home. Asgeia was heartbroken by his words. She'd hoped for an exciting life on the seas, together with her beloved Damon. And so she snuck on board, hiding herself in a crate amongst the cargo. She could not hide for long. Hunger drove her out, and when Damon saw her, he was furious. He yelled at her in rage and she cried. He ordered the ship to head back for land immediately, where they lay anchor just north of Frostkeep, where Damon threw her into the nearest cave and had his ship's mystic place a curse on her. Asgeia was bound to the cave and could not leave it. Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and eventually years. She withered away in her cave, indulging in sorrow and self-pity for an unnaturally long lifetime. Death, it seemed, did not intend to free her from her prison. With the years went her beauty, her kindness, and most of her sanity. She learned to use the water in the cave to look beyond it. To touch beyond it. Creatures drinking, children playing, women washing in the streams, rivers and even the sea. Slowly she became a creature not only of magical powers but of hate and envy. Slowly, she became a hag. Category:Books Category:Lore